Far Eastern Memorial Hospital empowers towards a healthy Taiwan with technology

        Taiwan is facing complex elderly diseases caused by population aging, increasing demand for care, coupled with labor shortages and the gradual loss of medical personnel, resulting in a heavy burden on the healthcare system. To this end, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital takes the initiative to face challenges, using technological thinking and technology to redesign its medical service model, reduce repetitive labor, improve service efficiency, and allow limited manpower to invest more effort in patient care. It also creates more convenient medical experiences, promotes the sustainable and high-quality development of medical care and health promotion, and moves towards a healthy Taiwan.

                In 2025, Taiwan officially enters the "super elderly society". With the increase of the elderly population, the proportion of chronic diseases, disabilities, dementia, and long-term bedridden population is increasing, and the demand for medical and long-term care resources is gradually expanding. At the same time, the worsening of the declining birth rate and the problems of labor force reduction, nursing staff turnover, and the departure of critically ill physicians continue to expand, putting unprecedented pressure on the healthcare system.

        Far Eastern Memorial Hospital responds to social needs and balances organizational effectiveness, with the policy of "reducing labor, debugging, adding value, and maximizing efficiency", deepening the application of technology in clinical settings. Through digital transformation and technological empowerment, it aims to reduce labor and optimize medical working conditions, comprehensively improve the medical experience of the public, promote health, and maintain a better quality of life.

        Technology application enhances medical experience

        Given that the general population is getting older and the demand for medical care is increasing, it is easy for paper documents to be lost, and there is a lack of timely grasp of outpatient and examination schedules and related precautions, resulting in delayed appointments or increased anxiety due to complex medical procedures. This not only causes inconvenience to patients, but also affects the progress of treatment. Far Eastern Memorial Hospital has innovatively launched "Oriental Petrochemical (Taiwan) Love Health", providing a personalized medical service platform through the official LINE account, making it easier for the public to access medical information and interact with patients. The platform integrates multiple functions, including outpatient, inpatient, surgical and other medical reminders, personalized health education information, scheduling queries, etc. It can also report symptoms online to medical staff, effectively avoiding the risk of patients missing medical information or incomplete preparation, and reducing anxiety. For the medical side, it can also grasp the patient's condition in advance, improve the quality of diagnosis and treatment and communication efficiency, and optimize the patient's medical experience.

        Integrating remote care with home healthcare

        Continuing the online outpatient and home diagnosis and treatment services during the epidemic, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital has expanded the scope of communication diagnosis and treatment services, providing remote care for patients or elderly people who are unable to come to the hospital in person due to long-term medication and mobility issues. In addition, communication diagnosis and treatment consultation is also provided for newly discharged cases that require acute late stage care. Through mobile message delivery, patient information is provided, including medication guidance, wound care guidance, rehabilitation demonstrations, and physician consultation after returning home, reducing the anxiety of patients in home care. The frequency of taking leave with family members to accompany patients back to the hospital is also reduced, allowing patients to gradually assist patients in recovering their functions and returning to normal life as soon as possible in a relatively economical and convenient situation. This model can also assist people facing major medical decisions at home and abroad, making it more convenient to obtain second opinions from different physicians, and allowing more people to receive reassuring medical advice and choices.

        For institutional residents, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital collaborates with a cross occupational home-based team and home care centers to establish the "Oriental Petrochemical (Taiwan) In Home Emergency Care Team". The team provides 24-hour consultation lines, communication diagnosis and treatment, and a green channel for transportation and return to the hospital. They also establish a case health management mechanism. Through remote measurement equipment and a physiological record upload system for cases, they connect with a medical information platform, allowing physicians to view the physiological values of cases and conduct evaluations in the hospital's medical system, achieving continuous care across regions and intelligence upgrades, helping institutions provide alternative services to hospitalization, reducing the need for cases to travel to the emergency department or hospital due to emergencies, and making medical care more comprehensive throughout the entire process.

        For specific ethnic groups, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital has also introduced smart wearable devices to achieve real-time monitoring and remote diagnosis and treatment, as well as timely warning and notification of follow-up services. Among them, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital and Ding&Ding Management Consultants jointly marketed and developed the "Cloud AI Auscultation Model", which uses deep learning technology to achieve remote, non-invasive, fast and accurate prediction of long-term dialysis case stenosis, and constructs a cloud platform to facilitate real-time visual interpretation of fistula sounds, achieving the goal of remote assisted clinical rapid decision-making; This technology has the potential for API integration and can provide comprehensive protection for dialysis cases, and has been recognized by the 2024 National Innovation Award. For high-risk groups of cardiovascular disease, elderly chronic patients, or those living alone, the "Emergency Medical Warning System" developed in collaboration with the industry, government, and medical community is used to immediately connect with the fire department in case of emergency situations and grasp the pre hospital emergency response time.

                Health promotion improves quality of life

        In addition to curing diseases, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital also actively promotes disease prevention and health promotion, expanding its services to health management in order to provide the public with a better quality of life.

        In terms of health examination and disease screening, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital uses AI and digital technology to provide accurate and efficient services, including all kinds of AI image interpretation, intelligent laboratory and AI assisted interpretation, AI diabetes funduscopy screening eye lesions, etc. It also expands the use of X-ray image and artificial intelligence technology to automatically analyze patients' osteoporosis risk, assist the medical team in early identification of high-risk groups, strengthen the management of osteoporosis cases, provide personalized and healthy life prescriptions and follow-up tracking, increase the proportion of early intervention of high-risk patients, and reduce the subsequent adverse consequences and medical burden. At the same time, we also provide remote health consultation services to expand our service reach, allowing the public to obtain professional consultation through apps or remote medical platforms, shifting from passive treatment to active prevention, and achieving the ideal of "traditional Chinese medicine treating diseases" or even "treating diseases before they occur".

                The value of technology lies in its implementation and integration. Far Eastern Memorial Hospital will continue to develop smart technology and establish an integrated care model, and collaborate with external partners across fields to enhance the quality and value of comprehensive health care services, accompanying all citizens through the "super aging society" and embracing a healthier and happier future!

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